Student teachers’ perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading: the implications for teacher education

This article reports on research which identified perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading held by trainee teachers and the impact on my provision as a teacher educator. It found that students’ past and present experiences of learning to read and being a reader influenced their perceptions of what reading is and of what it means to teach reading. As a teacher educator, I am not able to give students long experience of seeing children becoming readers, but I am able to give them richer experiences of reading in personally and culturally relevant contexts. This has implications for the nature of subject knowledge required by a student teacher of reading and the curriculum and practice of teacher education.     

Korean EFL teachers’ perceptions of the impact of EFL teacher education upon their classroom teaching practices

This study employed qualitative data collection and analysis methods to investigate the influence of English as a foreign language teacher education programme on Korean teachers’ classroom teaching practices. Six in-service secondary-school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was applied to the data collected from these interviews. Findings from the analysis included that: a) most of the teachers were dissatisfied with the largely theory-oriented pre-service teacher education programmes that they attended; b) a major source of influence on their teaching was their experience of in-service teacher training programmes with practical curricula; c) observation of other fellow teachers’ teaching had the strongest impact upon the teachers’ teaching practices; and d) the teachers’ low English proficiency and the washback effect of the Korea Scholastic Aptitude Test hindered the maintenance of the changes brought about by in-service teacher education programmes. This study ends with a discussion of the implications of these findings.     

Intertwining opportunities:: participants’ perceptions of professional growth within a multiple-site teacher education network at the secondary level

Teachers’ professional growth is far better documented within elementary professional development schools than it is within multi-site school partnerships at the secondary school level. This article fills an empirical gap by focusing on the professional development of 35 secondary school teachers and two professors within a school/university teacher education partnership focused on one content area. The University of Georgia Network for English Teachers and Students (UGA-NETS) is attached to a Research I institution and committed to on-going, discipline-based, collaborative inquiry and the education of 25 teacher candidates each year. Analysis of surveys, focus group and individual interviews, field notes, and documents across 5 years reveals that participants perceive 4 sites for their own professional development: individual school and university classrooms, school and university departments, the teacher network, and teacher education locally and beyond. The author also presents challenges to professional development within multi-site and secondary school partnerships including disturbing the status quo and the question of agendas, levels of buy-in, and diversity and equity.     

Chinese teachers’ perceptions of academically oriented teacher preparation

Academically oriented teacher preparation, which prioritises subject matter knowledge for teaching, is still widely practised in Confucian societies. Few studies, however, have investigated the impact of this academic model on teaching practices in Confucian contexts. Drawing on interviews and classroom observations of six Chinese mathematics teachers, this study identifies the affordances and limitations of a typical academically oriented teacher preparation in today’s China. Although this helped the sampled teachers establish their initial self-efficacy for teaching it limited the teachers’ awareness of and their capacity for engaging all students to learn. The paper argues that academically oriented teacher preparation programmes in Confucian societies may need to reform their curricula so as to help their graduates advance both excellence and equity in education through their teaching.     

Science teachers’ conceptions of teaching: Implications for teacher education

An analysis of recent science education research on student conceptions of natural phenomena, on science teaching and on science teacher planning carries implications for science teacher education. This suggests that the development of appropriate conceptions of teaching should be an important goal of science teacher education. Drawing the analogy between conceptions of natural phenomena and conceptions of teaching suggests guidelines for designing instruction in science teacher education courses. The importance of these guidelines is enhanced because teachers are likely to hold conceptions of teaching which are in conflict with those considered appropriate.

Activities in science teacher education which have attempted to identify and influence conceptions of science teaching are described and analysed. While these activities must be regarded as preliminary, they point to a powerful approach to thinking about the education of science teachers.     

Talking about education: exploring the significance of teachers’ talk for teacher agency

Abstract

The interest in teachers’ discourses and vocabularies has for a long time been studied under the rubric of knowledge, most notably teachers’ professional knowledge. This interest can be traced back to Shulman’s distinction between different kinds of teacher knowledge and Schwab’s interest in the role of practical reasoning and judgement in teaching. Within the research, a distinction can be found between a more narrow approach that focuses on teachers’ propositional or theoretical knowledge and a more encompassing approach in which teachers’ knowledge is not only the knowledge for teachers generated elsewhere, but also the knowledge of teachers. This is the ‘stock of knowledge’ gained from a range of sources and experiences, including teachers’ ongoing engagement with the practice of teaching itself. In this paper, we focus on the role of teachers’ talk in their achievement of agency. We explore how, in what way and to what extent such talk helps or hinders teachers in exerting control over and giving direction to their everyday practices, bearing in mind that such practices are not just the outcome of teachers’ judgements and actions, but are also shaped by the structures and cultures within which teachers work.     

A foreign model of teacher education and its local appropriation: the English teachers’ centres in Spain

This article explores the implementation of the English model of teachers’ centres in the context of 1980s Spain. Originally it was a top-down plan initiated by a national government. However, from the very beginning its fate was dependent on a bottom-up educational project carried out by pedagogical social movements. The first part of the article focuses on the multiple factors, the combination of which finally brought about the mediated educational transfer of the English teachers centres into Spain. The second part analyses the role played by the pedagogical movements during the implementation of this new initiative. The article concludes by evaluating how the interaction between the bottom-up and top-down processes gave impulse to the rapid establishment of a grand variety of innovative teachers centres, in the first stage, but ultimately brought about a consolidation of a single, hegemonic model, very different from the original object of educational transfer.     

Elementary teachers’ perceptions about the effective features of explicit-reflective nature of science instruction

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explored elementary teachers’ perceptions about the effective features of explicit-reflective nature of science (NOS) instruction. Our participants were four elementary teachers from a public charter school located in the Southwestern U.S.A. The four elementary teachers participated in an academic year-long professional development about NOS which consisted of NOS training and NOS teaching phases. After each phase of the professional development, we specifically asked our participants which features of the explicit-reflective NOS instruction they found effective in improving their NOS conceptions by presenting pre- and post-profiles of their NOS conceptions. We identified nine features perceived by the participants as effective components of explicit-reflective NOS instruction: (1) specific focus on NOS content, (2) participation in hands-on NOS activities, (3) introductory NOS readings, (4) multiple types/forms of reflection, (5) multiple exposure to NOS content, (6) structural consistency in the presentation of NOS content, (7) the evaluation of secondary NOS data from elementary students, (8) the analysis of national and state science standards in terms of NOS content, and (9) NOS teaching experience.     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of effective inquiry instruction: are effective instruction and effective inquiry instruction essentially the same?

This multiple case study examined pre-service teachers perceptions of effective post-secondary instruction. Pre-service teachers were asked to write essays describing an effective teacher of their choice. Twenty-one essays were randomly selected. Data analysis involved open coding of each essay, content analysis of each essay using Anderson and Burns’ (Research in classrooms: The study of teachers, teaching, and instruction (1st ed.). Oxford, England; New York: Pergamon Press, 1989) empirically derived dimensions of instruction, and effect size analysis of student and teacher roles. Instructional components were identified that differentiate between effective inquiry instruction and effective instruction. Effective inquiry instruction was associated with more and different teacher and student roles, more activities as part of instruction, and more student small group discussion than was effective instruction.     

To jump the wave or not: teachers’ perceptions of research evidence in education

This article presents a microanalysis of how a group of primary school teachers deals with research evidence in their work. Based on analysis of a group of Norwegian teachers’ interactions over issues of educational research and research-based knowledge, we find that teachers’ representations of educational research particularly center on the following issues: educational research being perceived as circular, ‘polyphonic’, and a matter of accommodation to their experience-based knowledge. These metaphors also shed light upon the dilemmas that arise when research evidence meets teachers’ more contextual knowledge. We conclude that teachers’ practice-based evidence may take new forms with an increased policy focus on research-based evidence, as well as bringing forth challenges for teacher work and professionalism.     

Exploring the characteristics of ‘teachers for excellence’: teachers’ own perceptions

This article is concerned first with identifying teacher characteristics connected with excellence. It then analyses the results of a survey conducted among primary school teachers in one local authority area in Scotland. Teachers responded to a questionnaire which asked them to rate in importance 44 characteristics of excellence. The findings suggest that teachers have a clear view of excellence. They consistently described excellence in terms of personal qualities and interpersonal skills. Teachers gave high ratings to qualities which demonstrated their expectations of positive classroom ethos and positive relationships with students. Practitioners consistently rated characteristics related to classroom ‘relationships in action’ as essential characteristics for excellent teachers. These findings suggest a new emphasis on interpersonal skills in continuing professional development for teachers who are increasingly expected to develop students’ dispositions relating to openness to new thinking; self‐respect and a commitment to responsible participation in social, cultural, economic and political life.     

Longing for recognition: A literature review of second-career teachers’ induction experiences in secondary education

In many countries, teacher shortages in secondary education are a serious problem. Therefore, alternative certification programmes (ACPs) have been developed to attract second-career teachers. Research on ACPs for secondary education showed that second-career teachers differ from first-career teachers in several respects. At the same time, the strand of research on induction seems to overlook these differences. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to find out whether second-career teachers in secondary education have special support needs in their induction period. Using a constant comparison analysis technique, 27 publications, conducted in the last decade, were analysed, focussing on second-career teachers’ perceived support, retention, and professional development. The results suggested that there is need for induction support that is (in part) especially for second-career teachers. It is concluded that recognising what second-career teachers need and have to offer may foster teacher quantity, teacher quality, and school development more generally.     

Changes in student teachers’ motives and the meaning of teacher education programme quality

This study provides insights into possible changes in 83 student teachers’ motives for becoming teachers, their professional commitment and their self-efficacy after a year of teacher education. Furthermore, it addresses the extent to which these changes relate to student teachers’ perceptions of their learning environment – specifically, their perceptions of the quality of teaching, generic skills and assessment. Student teachers completed a survey at the beginning and at the end of a single year of teacher education, which revealed significant changes in their motives and self-efficacy regarding tasks within the classroom and throughout the broader school context. No relationship between this change and teachers’ perceptions of their learning environment was observed. Instead, student teachers’ perception of the quality of teaching predicted their assessments of their ability and self-efficacy in a school context at the end of their education.     

Student teachers’ beliefs about the teacher’s role in inclusive education

The main aim of this research is to examine the basic features of student teachers’ professional beliefs about the teacher’s role in relation to teaching mainstream pupils and pupils with developmental disabilities. The starting assumption of this analysis is that teacher professional development is largely dependent upon teachers’ beliefs about various facets of their professional work. These concepts strongly influence the way that teachers teach and the way that they develop as teachers. The participants in the research are 314 student teachers at the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb who are being prepared to teach in lower grades of primary school. The beliefs were explored using a metaphor technique derived from cognitive theory of metaphor. The differences between beliefs about the perceived teacher role in general, and the perceived teacher role in the education of pupils with developmental disabilities were analysed. The results indicate that the dominant belief about the teacher’s role in teaching mainstream pupils is of the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge, while the findings regarding the dominant belief about the teacher’s role in teaching pupils with developmental difficulties appeared to be self-cantered orientation. No differences were found between student teachers at different study levels. The findings are discussed in the light of the curriculum of initial teacher education.     

Emotional geographies of teacher–parent relations: three teachers’ perceptions in Taiwan

This article attempts to use Andy Hargreaves’ theoretical framework of emotional geographies to analyze teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with parents in Taiwan. Based on the qualitative interviews with three primary teachers, the research findings show that teachers’ emotional distances from parents were intertwined with parents’ sociocultural status, teachers’ moral purposes, teachers’ notions of professionalism, teachers’ political pretense, and the frequency to contact parents. Thus, Hargreaves’ framework could be a useful tool to explore teacher–parent interactions. The paper closes with suggestions for policy considerations.     

We train,but what do they think? Preservice teachers’ perceptions of the adequacy of their teacher education in Turkey

The study aimed to assess the adequacy of pre-service teacher education in Turkey as perceived by preservice teachers. Specifically, the researchers investigated preservice teachers’ perceptions of the adequateness of their education in terms of developing teaching skills and the major components of teacher education. The factors affecting their perceptions were also examined. In total, 1856 preservice teachers participated in the study. A questionnaire was prepared to collect data from the participants. According to the findings, teacher education should be enhanced in terms of preparing candidates for skills such as teaching in different contexts and cooperating with parents; and practicum hours needed to be improved for more effective preparation of preservice teachers. Moreover, it was also found that the preservice teachers’ subject, college, orientation towards teaching and the perceived adequacy of program components played significant roles in affecting their perceptions of teacher education.     

Special education trainee teachers’ perceptions of their professional world: motives,roles, and expectations from teacher training

To open a window into perceptions entailed in the professional world view of special education teacher trainees, three research questions were developed: (a) What are their motives for joining the profession? (b) How do they perceive the role of the special education teacher? and (c) What are their expectations from teacher training? The research was carried out using a qualitative approach. Ninety-three students about to begin their professional training in special education in an Israeli teacher-training college completed a questionnaire consisting of five open questions. The data were analyzed according to the grounded theory approach. The research findings showed that the trainees chose special education because they wanted to belong to a group of teachers perceived as the most ethical; one that considers its mission to help ‘vulnerable’ individuals, mold their characters, and ‘have an impact on society.’ The role of special education teachers was perceived mainly as caring for students and their parents; the trainees expected that during their training, they would become completely familiar with the range of disabilities and how to deal with them, as well as learn about themselves and strengthen their teaching skills. The world of special education was perceived as ‘mysterious,’ having a high moral standing; as a closed profession, in that relations are limited to teacher, child, and parents; but with a spiritual aspect. The professional world of special education as perceived by the teacher trainees was different than that actually waiting for them, and for which teacher training institutes must prepare them.     

ICT in the classroom: Primary education student teachers’ perceptions of the interactive whiteboard during the teaching practicum

A literature review on perceptions of the interactive whiteboard during the teaching practicum shows that there has been insufficient analysis of student teachers’ perceptions of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). However, these perceptions are highly useful to create a full picture of the effectiveness – and indeed the drawbacks – of using ICT in the classroom. In this study, we examine and analyse evidence from teaching practica to assess the success of ICT – specifically the interactive whiteboard – as a teaching tool, using a qualitative method. The accounts are first-hand, scientific reflections made by student teachers from La Serena, Chile, during their teaching practicum in primary schools; for this reason they are extremely useful in analysing this teaching tool’s effectiveness in the classroom. Among the main results for students’ perceptions of incorporating technology as part of their training, we found a set of variables for good practice when using the interactive whiteboard, including: incorporating technology as an engaging didactic resource; making the most of technology for improving learning; determining when best to use the whiteboard; and identifying any limiting factors together with students’ suggestions for improvement.     

Teachers’ perceptions of effective teaching: a theory-based exploratory study of teachers from China

There is general agreement that teachers matter the most when it comes to student learning. However, there is an unquestionable need for educators to understand what constitutes effective teaching in K-12 classrooms. This research studied Chinese high school (N = 359) teachers’ perceptions of effective teaching using an international theoretical framework as guidance. Basic statistics described Chinese teachers’ perceptions on different domains of the teaching effectiveness framework. Statistically, significant results were found when comparing subject matter, gender, teaching experience, school type, award, academic rank and leadership. Furthermore, Chinese and American teachers’ perceptions on effectiveness were compared and contrasted. This study revealed that some findings were rooted in Confucian cultural tradition while others related to China’s current educational reform. Implications, recommendations and limitations are discussed.